Headrest



Oct. 14, 1952 J. s. RoGlNsKl HEADRES-T 2 Sl-XEETS--SHEET 1 Filed NOV. 30, 1949 Oct. 14, 1952 J. s. RoGlNsKl HEADRAEST 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed NOV. 30, 1949 Patented Oct. 14, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENTY-`10FF1CE v HEADRES'ZE John S. Rloginski, Boston, Mass. Application November 30, 1949, Serial'. No. '130,265 I This invention relates to an improved headrest of the type designed to be removably attached to the back of an automobile seat, chainand the like, in order to furnish a convenient support against which the headmay be received eitherfor purposes of rest or for inducing sleep.

It is an object of the invention to devisefan improved headrest of the general vcharacterin`- bine With the foregoing height adjusting struc-f ture, means for varying the angle of inclinationv at whichv the head may be supported at any desired height, thus to makev available a range. oi` inclination. suited veither to merely temporarily reclining or to. longer periodsl of resti. with sleep` being induced.

Another object of thev invention is 'to'pmvide a headrest assembly madeoia very small number of parts which are easily disassembled or put together and which maybe readily stored .as a compactiight package when not in use.

It is Suu a further. object ory the invention@ devise a type of headrest construction which can be very cheaply manufactured with a minimum number of cutting and. forming .operations being required in order to providethevrequired range of iiexibility and adjustabilty. i

These and other objects and novel features Will be more fully understood andappreciated from the following description of a .preferred embodiment of the inventionV shot/nin the accompany-.-

ing drawings,in which n s Fig. 1 is a View in side Velevation illustrating an automobile seat with the beadrest of the invenftion being installed on the ybackofA the seat in one desired position of height and vangularity. or inclination, and with alternate positions of inclina tion indicated in broken lines;

Fig. 2 is a frontl elevational view further illus-- trating the automobile seat shown in Fig.. 1, with; the headrest of theinventionfattached and alsoV revealing the slide means for adjustably securing the upper section of the headrest to the lower engaged section;

Fig. '3 is av plan cross-sectiontaken on the, line. 3-3 of Fig. 2; i v

Fig. 4 is a plan. View and partial cross-section of the slide means shown in. 3, butfurther Y illustrating the upper Section of the head1-est in s Claims. (o1. 15s- 114) 2 a furthermost inclined position dottedlines at the left of Fig. 1.;

Fig. 5. is another view similar to` Figs. 3 and 4 in. whichthe upper section of the headrest is shown in. a fully advanced. position of inclination assusgested in dotted lines at the right-.hand side of Fig., 1; i

such as shown in Fig.. 6 is a View in cross-section taken on the line E-S of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is an. elevational Viewv showing fragmentarilythe headrest frame sections with the upper sectionina wholly inclined position suc as. indicated inFig. 4 and I Fig. 8 is another fragmentary elevational View illustrating headrest sections in a relatively advvancedstate of inclination such as is represented in Fig. 5;

Fig. 9 is a detail perspective View of the cross bar element for stiiening thel frame;

Fig. 10 is another fragmentary fronteleva tional.. View villustrating a frame and headrest secured together by a modified form ofv slide' construction Fig. 1l is a central vertical `.cross section taken through the modied slide shown'in Fig. l0 in one typical positionthereof; l n 4 y Fig. 12 isa plan cross, section taken on the line :2f-12er Fig. 10;. 1

Fig. 13 is a side elevational view illustrating the slide shown in Fig.y 12 in one position of rotation about the frame l;

Fig. 14 is another side elevational view of the slidenshown. in. Figs. 10-12 inclusive, indicating another position which. the frame v may assume by angular guidewaysformed in the slide;

Figs. l5 and 16 illustrate still another slide arrangement of the same general type shown in Figs.. 10-14 inclusive` but further .illustrating a recessed locking spring arrangement yfor v securing the slide in position;` y

Figs. 17 and 18 further illustrate :fragmentarily in plan View. positions of rotation of the slide membersy shown in Figs. 15 and 16 about the headrest frame I6 tol develop varying degrees of pitch or angularity in the manner noted above;

' Fig. i9 is a compositeview lshowing vviii-plan the severalA parts .of the headrest,y iframev and supporting sections; andv Fig. 20 is a detail plan Iview off another modication. i f

Inthe. structure shown inthe drawings, numeral I 0, denotes the lower section of an automobile seat and numeral l2 denotes the back of the seat formed Ain the-usualv manner with a padded upper extremity I4, about which the headrest device of ...-V 3 the invention is adapted to be engaged as shown. The headrest is formed with two principal parts, including a seat engaging frame made up of two spaced-apart straps I B and I8 having their upper extremities bent over to form retaining hook portions 20 and 22. A cross piece 24 maintains the lower extremities of the strap in spaced apart relation and may be secured thereto by any convenient type of fastening such as a snap, clip, flat spring or the like. (See Fig. 9,.) v

'Ihe second principal part of the headrest structure includes an upper section consisting of a pillow bracket 26, formed with spaced-apart endsv arranged to detachably engage with respective slide supports 28 and 30 located on the straps I6 and I 6 as noted in Figs. 1 and 2. The upperv portion of the pillow bracket is bent into a generally circular form as denoted by the dotted line 32 showing of Fig. 2, about which is adapted to be disposed a pillow 34 which latter element may conveniently be in the form of an enveloping body. Y 'Ihe frame and ypillow bracket ymay be constructed from any light, flexible material such as metal, plastic, and the like, and in one preferred form will be constructed from a cheap metal wire characterized by a limited degree of resilience in order to impart yieldability to the headrest upper section when secured in the ,y engaging frame.

Adjusting slide support 28 has been further illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6 in order to more fully disclose the nature of this member. As will be noted in the figures referred to, the slide support is formed with a relatively flat, wide face 36 and an opposite convex surface 38.' The contours described are selected to avoid on the one hand any outwardly projecting mass such as would be objectionable on thepart of a user resting against the headrest, and on the other hand to provide a curved surface more readily adapting itself to sinking into the back I2 of the automobile seat.

Located through the slide support'28, between the two surfaces referred to, are formed guideways 4U, 42, 44, and 46. Of these, guideway serves as a passageway through which the strap lr6 may extend and by which the slide may be slid into various positions of adjustment. Guideway 42 will, as noted by the dotted line shown in Fig; 7, permit the headrest 26 to be held therein in one position of angularity.

Guideway 44 serves to locate the headrest 26 in an intermediate position as, shown in Figs. 3

.and 6, while guideway 46 serves to locate member 2B in an opposite position of angularity as noted in Figs. and 8. It will be seen that in each of these arrangements, ,the slide member'achieves the purpose sought by a series of guideways which lie in an angularly disposed position withrespect to one another and with respect to the straps I6 and I8 on which the slide support is held.

Numeral 58 refers to a notched surface or surfaces Von the two lower extremitiesof the frame I6, and a at spring 52 is detachably secured in the slide in positionto force va center projection 54 into engagement with the notched surfacesv and thus secure the slide element at any desired point on' the frame extremities.

It will be apparent that by the single pair of slide supports a relatively wide range of adjustments maybe achieved. Thusv by sliding the headrest and slide support members up and down the straps I6 and I8, any desired vertical adjust-v ment may be quickly made. Similarly in any such vertical position as is chosen by merely removing the headrest section and locating the ends of this member in any one of the three sets of guideways, a range of inclination is available.

Attention is directed to the form of invention illustrated in Fig. 10-14 inclusive in which the slide member 6I) is provided consisting of a substantially triangularly shaped block having three openings or guideways formed therethrough. One of the guideways is designed to receive the lower extremities of the frame I6, and in addition, to permit rotation about the longitudinal axis of the guideway, with the result that the remaining two Vguideways may be moved into varying positions as will be apparent from an inspection of Figs. 17 and 18. The numeral 62 refers to the guideway in which the frame portions I6 are received, while guideway 64 refers to the forward occurring guideway as viewed in Fig. 10, and numeral 66 denotes the remaining guideway, more clearly shown in Fig. 12.

With this form of slide, there is provided a locking sleeve l68 adapted to surround the frame sections I6 and be slidably mounted thereon, to position the sleeve in a position immediately below the slide 60 as suggestedin Fig. l1, for example. The sleeve includes an internal nat spring 'I6 formed with a notched portion 'I2 adapted to move into engagement' with notched surfaces 14, on the inner sides of the frame sec- Y tion I6. The spring member 'I6 lat its upper extremity preferably is formed with a hooked edge It, to facilitate longitudinal adjustment of the sleeve on the frame.

In Figs. 15 to 18 inclusive, there is shown anadjusted in one direction or another. p

It will be seen that upon rotating the triangular type of slide, the inclined guideways will reverse the angle of inclination of the'headrest section, with the result that a wider range of ad,- justability is secured and in all positions of adv justment the slide will lie with a flat face or bearing surface for contact with the back of the seat I2. In this relative position the slide presents a -very unobjectionable projection against which the back of the user may rest.A f

Another desirable application of the invention is in connection with the device shown in Fig. 20 in which the curved frame portions I6 are supported in a 'lowered position on a base member adapted to rest on the ground and Ahaving holes therein for receiving the extremities of members I6. Located on the base member 9D is arigid panel or upright 92 extending upwardly intopo-`v very quickly attached to one another and to the seat of an automobile, chair, or other piece of furniture, with a minimum amount of effort.

ways 'occurring in progressively inclined positions to provide for different headrest positions.

While I have shown preferred embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that changes and other modifications may be resorted to in keeping with the spirit of the invention as dened by the appended claims. y Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An article of the character described comprising a frame having bent upper extremities for engaging over a seat, a pair of slide elements adjustably mounted on the frame, each of the slide elements being formed with a plurality of guideways extending therethrough, the guidewaysoccurring angularly with respect to one any other, and a headrest section detachably secured in one set of guideways.

2. An improved headrevst for automobile seats, including a seat-engaging frame having two spaced-apart rods formed at their upper ends i with retaining portions, a pair of adjusting slides mounted on the rods at points intermediate the y ends, said slides each having a pair of guideways lying in spaced relation to the rods, said guldeways being disposed angularly with respect to one another, a pillow bracket presenting a pair of 6. An improved head rest comprising a frame having two spaced apart supporting members, said supporting members presenting curved` extremities, a pairv ofv slide 'elements adjustably mounted on the supporting members, said slide elements being formed with guideways `extending therethrough, a flexible pillow bracket including spaced vapart arms received in the said gudeways of the slides and extending angularly Vaway from the frame, and base means for holding the spaced apart supporting members in xed relation. i

7. A device as described in claim 6, in which thev base means includes an upright member arranged in position to limit the path through which the pillow bracket may flex when a weight is disposed thereagainst.

8. A device as described in claim 6, in which the base comprises a substantially ilat block having holes formed therethrough at opposite ends of the block for receiving the curvedfends of the depending arms detachably secured in the guidev ways and extending upwardly from the frame, and said slides being rotatable about the frame rods to move the pillow bracket into varying po- 4' sitions of angularity with respect to the frame.

3L A device as described in claim 2 in which the slides include holding means for adjustably securing the slides in any desired position on their respective rods. 4. A device as described in claim 2 in which spaced apart supporting members, and a rigid head support element fixed in the block and extending upwardly into a position to limit the path through which the pillow bracket may ilex on the frame when a Weight JOHN S. ROGINSKI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the Aidle of this patent:

the slides include spring means having a projection formed at one side, and the said spaced apart rods are provided with notched surfaces for releasably engaging with the projection on the spring means.

5. A device as described in claim 2 in which the slides are formed with a plurality of guideways extending therethrough, each of the guide- UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 48,586 'Phelps July 4, 1865v 418,004 Frick Dec. 24, 1889 570,208 Harry Oct. 27, 1896 792,669 Schaft June 20, 1905 1,565,514 Schumacher Dec. 15, 1925 FOREIGN PATENTS Y Number Country Date 140,204 Germany Apr. 9, 1903 is disposed thereagainst. 

